“‘Flying Pigs’—The Start of a Voyage into the Future”

It was six months after the hostages were released but all the pigs of the Highlands Mapnduma area of West Papua had been killed by OPM and Military for their own food. Pigs are not only the staple diet for the tribes but also a critical resource for social relations via feasts and gift giving ceremonies. So Stephen along with the head of WWF decided to replace the pigs of Mapnduma, UNESCO generated funding, then flew 108 pigs to the tribes, under the official title, “The United Nations Flying Pigs Operation”. UNESCO then followed through, on request of a local NGO, to build a culture center and program—to both preserve disappearing cultural products plus build markets for sale of sculpted and created artefacts broadly to enhance income. Tribal leaders wanted to know what the outside world was like, so Stephen offered a ‘Voyage into the Future’ taking leaders up to Jakarta by ship to see. This chapter reports what happened and then the follow-up voyage that brought another 40 tribal leaders to Jakarta from the border area with Papua New Guinea with a specific mission to learn small scale production practice of use in generating external income.